IV. Little, did he know?

Stella was now dressed in fluffy pajama pants, a onesie, and a shirt with a character of a children's cartoon on it. In her mouth was a large pacifier with a four-leaf clover on the shield, attached to a cord that was clipped to the collar of her shirt. She carried a plush clownfish in both hands that must have been almost two feet long. Rowan tilted his head, pondering why an adult mare would wear such a shirt and carry a large plush animal, let alone have a pacifier. He could clearly hear the loud crinkling of a diaper underneath her clothes, which was not as apparent before.

She looked like an oversized toddler in many aspects. It was as if Stella had left and a different mare had entered the living room. The pony sat down on the couch, next to Rowan, and hid most of her face behind the giant clownfish. Celester ruffled her mate's mane, then sat down on the other side of the couch. The entire display struck Rowan as odd. The way Stella was dressed and behaving was not even the strangest thing to him, but rather the calm and seemingly amused way Celester reacted to it, and how all this seemed normal to both mares.

'You're probably wondering what this is all about, aren't you?' the unicorn said calmly.

'I guess... Yeah. Is it okay to ask?'

Stella giggled as Celester kissed her on the forehead.

'Shall I let you do the talking, filly?'

She nodded and took her pacifier out.

'When I was a filly, it took me longer than usual to potty train. I've always had a weak bladder, which meant I had daytime accidents every now and then when I was in primary school. I often wet the bed, so my parents made me wear diapers. I also had to wear them during long car rides. A few weeks before my tenth birthday, the bedwetting gradually stopped.'

'And you didn't wear diapers anymore?'

'Very rarely. Until I started high school. Somehow, the transition to a different school was stressful for me, and my mother suggested I wore diapers again. I was hesitant at first, but it didn't take long before I remembered being diapered meant no worries about accidents or waking up in a wet bed. They made me feel safe and helped me sleep better, and they still do.'

'We met in our third year of high school,' Celester added. 'My parents and I had moved here from the other side of the country and I had to rebuild my social circle. Making friends is hard for a black unicorn at that age. When you're a filly, other kids don't see you as dangerous. There are a lot of misconceptions about unicorns and our magical abilities, let alone black unicorns. Anyway, we didn't immediately hit it off, like you would see in any second-rate movie. It took until I got rejected by a stallion I wanted to date. In private, I dropped my cloaking and revealed that I'm a unicorn. Let's say that didn't end well.'

'I noticed Celester as she entered the bathroom and saw she had been crying. At first, I was mostly concerned with whether she had seen me carrying my diaper bag, until I saw her horn. I had seen her a couple of times before, but it never occurred to me she was a unicorn. I had never met one until then, even though I had wished for it on every birthday I can remember.'

'Stella asked me if I was alright, and I told her I got rejected by a guy. She said she felt sorry for me, and since my cloaking was still down, I noticed she was suppressing a laugh. I asked her about it and she said she had never experienced that problem.'

'I soon realized I had said something hurtful, so I decided to be honest. I had never been rejected by a stallion, because I only feel attracted to mares.'

'Somehow, this triggered something in me. I had considered myself bisexual for a few years, but I had never dated a mare. From that day on, we were best friends. It didn't take long for Stella to get the obvious out of the way and tell me about her accidents and the diapers she wore for protection.'

'Earlier that year, my father died in a workplace accident. For two months straight, I woke up wet every night. After I began having more and more near-accidents during daytime, my mother convinced me to wear diapers during the day as well. I discovered they didn't just make me feel safe, the diapers also helped me relive a part of my childhood, and experience some of the comfort and security I felt when my dad was still alive. I went looking online and found out there were others. It appeared to be a thing called "infantilism".'

'About a year and a half later, after the finals, Stella finally told me about all that. She explained she liked to pretend she was a filly every now and then, because it helped her cope with stress and sorrow. I soon understood it took great courage to take the risk of sharing such intimate details with me. From that moment, I knew I wanted to share my life with her. A few days later, she regressed in my presence for the first time. Somehow it clicked and I naturally took on a motherly role. I've enjoyed taking care of her ever since.'

Rowan took a few moments to let all this sink in.

'So that's why you have this collection of picture books?'

'I do read to children in the hospital, but yeah.'

'Now that you mention it, thanks for tidying up our bookcase. I was expecting you to read a book, but I'm not complaining. I like pleasant surprises.'

He smiled.

'Speaking of which, I brought a couple of surprises on the way home,' Celester said triumphantly. 'The first is in the hallway, and I suggest a certain little pony is going to look for it. It's in my bag.'

Stella zoomed out of the living room, straight towards where Celester had dropped her bag when she came home. The pony quickly found what she was looking for and returned to the living room, carrying a flat square box. There was a logo of a local bakery printed on the top.

'Did you buy cake?' Rowan asked in confusion.

'Yup. You took the bold action to escape from an abusive situation. Celebration is non-negotiable.'

Stella, who had carried the box to the countertop by now, carefully opened the lid.

'Carrot cake!' she shouted.

'It's her favorite. Sorry for going by a racial stereotype, but I assumed you'd probably like it too.'

'We'll see if it can beat my grandmother's recipe,' Rowan laughed.

'Stella, be a dear and divide the cake in three pieces. The box with cutlery should be on top of the stack with kitchen stuff. And make us some tea, please.'

'Yes, Mommy!'

'I'll go get the other surprise from the car. Be right back.'

She returned carrying a large shopping bag filled with clothes, which she put down next to the coffee table.

'What's this?'

'I had some time between two appointments, which I decided to put to good use. I searched online for secondhand clothing and found a mother who had just sorted through her teenage son's clothes. She wanted to sell the collective of whatever didn't fit him anymore, so she was glad I wanted to take everything. They happened to be rabbits, too. There are no shoes, but I figured you might not need them for a while and I didn't know if you even prefer to wear them. Stella and I have hooves, so we hardly ever wear shoes. To top it off, I bought you some new underwear as well.'

Rowan wanted to say how grateful he was for their kindness, but the words would not leave his mouth. He tried a few times more, but he kept choking up. Eventually, the rabbit teared up and began to cry uncontrollably. Celester, who had picked up on this just before he started bawling, gently embraced the rabbit and supported him.

'How can I ever repay you?' he cried.

'By stuffing that cake in your face, and celebrating a new chapter in your life,' Celester replied with a grin.

Stella put three mugs on the coffee table and sat down. She patted the space next to her, inviting Rowan to join her. With the now somewhat calmed-down rabbit in the middle, the three dug in. A moment of silent enjoyment followed.

'So... Apparently, my grandmother's carrot cake sucks,' Rowan stated to nobody in particular.

'One more rabbit in the "not the best they can be"-category,' Celester said, stifling a laugh.

'Yeah, I've been wanting to ask you, Rowan. How did you end up in such a bad situation? It didn't exactly happen overnight, did it?'

'I met Azalea in high school. In the beginning, we were boyfriend and girlfriend, and all was well. Then I turned eighteen, which apparently was the moment my stepdad was waiting for. Instead of birthday congratulations, I was told I had three days to find a place to live. He would change the door locks over the weekend, and I would no longer be welcome in their house or their life.'

Stella listened with her mouth agape. 'Why? What did you do wrong?'

'Existing. My mother was raped at a party. Her parents were pro-life, so they made it crystal clear she would be kicked out if she had an abortion. Legends say that unwanted rabbit babies are reabsorbed in the womb, and that no rabbit is ever born unwanted, but I guess that's just a fairytale.'

'Do you even know who your real father is?'

'Not even his name. I bear my mother's last name. She called me "Brek", which means "Bramble". I assume she did that to piss off her parents, so every time they mentioned me, they'd know my mother only associated me with pain. My stepdad only took care of me because it was illegal to kick me out, and he didn't want to look bad to his in-laws.'

'Wow, what a snake pit. So they threw you out, and that's when you went to Azalea's place?'

He nodded. 'She invited me to stay, and I trusted her. After a few weeks, my contract at the burger joint got terminated, because they had to cut back on personnel. I was out of work for a while, and then something snapped. Azalea understood I had nowhere to go and that I would be on the streets without her. I had only a few friends, and none of them were in a position to take me in. Let alone for free.'

'But how did that dilapidate into imprisoning you in her apartment?'

'She posed the argument that I should do the household chores as long as I didn't have a job, so there was more time for us together in the evenings. However, she often went out with her female friends, where I wasn't welcome of course. Since I only have my high school diploma, finding a job a teenager can't do wasn't easy. By then, I was doing almost all chores. Meanwhile, Azalea refused to have sex with me, and noticed I became restless. I was just upset about not getting a job and feeling useless, but she gaslighted me into thinking I was sexually frustrated. To "help me control my urges" she decided to buy me a chastity cage. I protested, but she convinced me to try it, "just to see if it would help". Things quickly escalated from there.'

'That's awful!' was all Stella could say.

'The next morning, I woke up wearing a collar. I know many people wear them, but I never had. I looked beside me and saw Azalea wasn't next to me in the bed. Another thing I noticed was my phone missing from the nightstand. I heard movement in the living room, so I got up to see what was going on. She sat there, at the dining table, holding a remote. A pen and a sheet of paper laid there on the table, as if they were waiting for me.'

'I don't like where this is going,' Celester said.

'Neither did I. She told me there would be some changes as of that day. I was to sign the paper, which basically said I was willingly submitting myself to her, and the chastity and collar were put on me with consent. Of course, I said she was crazy and that I wouldn't sign the document. I asked for my phone and the key to the cage, because I was leaving. And that's when she grinned and pressed a button on the remote.'

'No... Did she put a shock collar on you?' Celester asked, trying to control her anger.

Rowan slowly nodded. 'She asked me if I was sure, and I tried to resist. Every time I did, she shocked me, each time longer than before. I kept trying, maybe subconsciously hoping she'd pity me and stop whatever she had planned. Eventually, I nearly blacked out from the pain. With my last strength, I realized the only way to make it stop was to sign the document. She kept the shock collar on me for a few more days, until she was relatively certain of my surrender. By then, she replaced it with the locking collar with the tracking device. I wasn't allowed to sleep in our bedroom anymore. Instead, I slept in a small side room designed to be a home office or a children's bedroom. All I had in there was a mattress, the few clothes I owned, some particularly poorly written books about feminism, and a camping toilet.'

'This is getting stranger by the minute. Why the latter two?' Stella inquired.

'Azalea has a thing for dominating men, as I imagine you've deduced by now. She believes women are superior and men should serve women, in the broadest terms imaginable. I wasn't allowed in the big bed anymore, only if I agreed to have sex with her the way she wanted. That included her taking me from behind with a strap-on, and I think of my butt as an exit only, thank you very much.'

'So she banned you from the bedroom and kept you as a literal slave?'

He nodded. 'Since I wasn't planning to volunteer for her sexual pleasure, she began bringing home other guys do dominate in our bedroom, during which I was to be in "my room", with the lights out, not to be seen or heard. That's what the camping toilet was for.'

A moment of silence filled the living room. The mares contemplated everything Rowan had told them and tried to understand how it made him feel.

'I can't even begin to imagine how your life has been in the past two years. It sounds like actual prisoners have a better living standard.'

He sighed. 'Yeah, I'm glad to be away from her. It's just... I don't know where to go from here.'

'What do you mean?'

'Azalea systematically isolated me from my friends, and my parents made it clear they don't want me in their life. I'm from a small family, and since I'm the product of rape, I'm not exactly welcome at my aunt and uncle's place either. The clothes you girls gave me are all I own.'

'No bank account? No savings?' Stella asked.

'Azalea pressured me into giving up my PIN and plundered my account. It wasn't much, but I might have been able to pay the first month of rent somewhere. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. There's nowhere I can go.'

'Well...' Celester said slowly, pretending to ponder for a moment. 'Maybe you don't have to. You could stay here, with us. Even after your paw has healed, I mean.'

'But I don't want to impose on you. Besides, I don't have any money. I can't pay-'

'You don't have to if you can't. We're happy to share our home with a cute rabbit like you.'

Rowan's ears flopped.

'It's just... What am I going to do all day? And how am I going to afford rent?'

'Don't worry about that. We'll give you room and board until you find a job, and then we'll renegotiate.

The rabbit pondered for a moment.

'It does sound like a really good offer. What's the catch?'

Celester chuckled. 'I'm not used to your cunning yet, I see. First of all, now that you know about the nature of my relationship with Stella, I hope you understand we won't exactly try to keep our dynamic hidden from you. If you're uncomfortable, just tell us, and we'll do our best to not push it in your face.'

'I kind of expected this. You do you, I guess. Besides, I already told you I got hard from wetting my diaper, so complaining about your dynamic would be somewhat... hypocritical.'

'Alright. But wait, there's more,' Celester continued like she was in an infomercial. 'Like I said, we'll give you a room of your own, and our fridge is your fridge. We're going to help you find a job, and when you do, we'll come to an agreement about rent. You'll pay a fair share of your income, no matter what that might be.'

Rowan nodded.

'Once you have a job, you and I are going to find you a therapist. You've been abused by Azalea for two years, and you grew up in a household that clearly didn't want you to be a part of it. I can't imagine what that did to your self-confidence, let alone other social and emotional development. Even my horn picks up your insecurity every now and then.'

The rabbit looked down, close to crying again. Celester put an arm around him, and Stella followed suit.

'I didn't say that to hurt your feelings, Rowan. You've never had a place where you're celebrated instead of just barely tolerated. I wish for you to experience what it feels like to have a place you can call "home". Do you understand that?'

He slowly nodded, and the mares let go of him.

'That brings us to the last condition. You have to file a complaint against Azalea, at the police station, as soon as possible.'

'Why?' Rowan blurted out. 'I don't ever want to see her again. How does filing a complaint help me?'

'Abuse is often rooted in trauma or mental illness. That's not an excuse, but it means she won't stop on her own. There's no way she'll wake up one day and think "You know what? I can't find my boy toy, let's straighten up my act and start behaving like a normal person". Maybe she'll even decide to find someone to replace you. There's only one person who can end this, Rowan, and that's you. At all costs, she must be stopped, so professional people can decide her fate.'

'But what about the contract she made me sign?'

'If you signed that willingly, would you have escaped the way you did? Wouldn't there be a way to terminate the contract?'

Rowan remained silent.

'Did you know most people don't throw out keys that unlock things they no longer own? I've kept your cage and collar, which I can pick in front of the police if they don't believe you.'

'So you'll go with me?'

'Of course, Rowan. You don't have to do all this on your own. We're here for you now.'

'In that case... I think I'd like to stay.'

'Yay!' Stella exclaimed, tightly hugging Rowan with both arms.

'Now the formal stuff is out of the way, I believe you shouldn't wear this diaper much longer,' Celester said, pointing at the completely blurred blue line down the front.

Rowan's ears flopped. 'Yeah... Could I maybe take a shower?'

'Sure. I'll help you up the stairs.'

The rabbit let out a content sigh. After all these years, he was finally on his way to better days.